Crimea short of fuel as Ukraine expands attacks on Russian oil facilities

June 2 ------ Drivers in Russian-controlled Crimea were grappling with gasoline rationing after Ukrainian drone attacks constricted road supplies across south-eastern Ukraine, Reuter witnesses and officials said.

More than four years since ​the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia is facing almost daily Ukrainian attacks on its oil infrastructure while Western sanctions have made crude exports more costly. Moscow-backed Crimea governor, Sergei Aksyonov, said limits had been imposed on sales of the most commonly used gasoline, Ai-95, and that people would have to use fuel coupons for purchases.

In Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and the traditional base of Russia’s ​Black Sea Fleet, Reuters witnesses reported long queues at filling stations. “I haven’t been able to fill up for two days now,” resident Oksana Senchenko told Reuters.

Russia took control of Crimea in 2014 after Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted during protests in February 2014. After Crimea voted in a disputed referendum to become part of Russia, Moscow formally annexed Crimea.

It became part of Russia within ‌the Soviet Union until 1954, when it was handed to Ukraine, also ​then a Soviet republic, by Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory occupied by Russian forces and has said Ukrainian sovereignty of Crimea must be restored. “Fuel in Crimea is being sold in limited quantities and via rationing coupons. The reason is Ukrainian drone attacks on fuel trucks on the ‘Novorossiya’ highway - a land corridor linking mainland Russia and Crimea,” Tsaryov said. “The current difficulties are linked to the need to strengthen security measures and optimise the ‌logistics routes used to deliver fuel to our city. These are temporary but objective challenges that we will overcome,” he added.

Source: cnn.com